First, let's get in the right frame of mind by listening to a song that captures the wholesome appeal of the SS396:




Well, maybe this car is a little more menacing than what those Wonder Bread-eating boys had in mind when they wrote that song. I talked to the owner's father, who verifies that it is indeed a genuine original 396 car and that it's currently in a "needs persuading to run" phase of its Hell Project lifecycle.


Back in the '69, this was a fairly expensive machine; the base Chevelle coupe could be had for $2,458, but the price tag on the go-fast options started to mount fast: if you wanted the 375-horse 396, you'd have to shell out $253- a 10% premium; the aluminum-head version cost a wallet-vacuuming $648.

The yellow '72 Porsche 914 lives at the same address, but the crucial difference is that the Porsche is owned by a rent-paying tenant and actually runs. I can't puzzle out the year on this car exactly, but items such as taillight lenses seem to point to 1970 or 1971. VW experts?


The owner seemed to be hoping that he'd get some offers on this car, once its beauty could be seen by many passersby; failing that, The Crusher's hunger for scrap steel to ship to China make it worth at least a hundred bucks.


I've driven a few Karmann Ghias of this era, and they behave pretty much exactly like Beetles on the road- not surprising, given that the chassis is identical to the Beetle's. The '70 K-G coupe is more than 100 pounds heavier than its Beetle sibling (1,918 pounds versus 1,807), so the "sporty" car of the pair is actually the slower one. However, for a two-seat coupe with Italian styling, the Karmann Ghia's price was hard to beat: $2,399. A new MGB-GT- not exactly a high-performance machine- would have set you back a stunning $3,260.

Alameda's waterfront on the Oakland Estuary side has all manner of marine-related businesses, from dredging companies to marine engine rebuilders to sailmakers. Sea Worthy Canvas- located across the street from a Toyota parts warehouse (and just down the street from the '64 Olds Jetstar)- uses a pair of Toyota Vans to deliver the goods to salty sea dogs throughout the Bay Area. Actually, it looks like they're using them for sail storage at the moment.


These mid-engined vans sold like crazy in Asia, but they had a tough time competing with the front-drive Chrysler minivans (and, yes, we'll see an early Voyager in this series one of these days). Being Toyotas, however, most of the examples sold here are still on the street today.

I'd had a couple of old-style Beetles prior to getting my first Super Beetles, and the switch from the old torsion-beam front suspension to McPherson strut suspension (this being the primary difference between the Super Beetle and the regular kind) didn't feel all that meaningful while driving. However, the new front suspension made room for lots more storage space under the hood. I'm not 100% sure of the year of this car; it's older than 1973, because the windshield is flat, but I'm not enough of an expert to tell the difference between a '71 and a '72. Maybe some of you can!


The regular Beetle sold for $1,845 new in 1972, while the Super went for $1,985. This was seriously cheap; the $1,798 Toyota Corolla, the $1,992 Fiat 128, the $1,960 Ford Pinto, the $2,017 Plymouth Cricket, the $2,060 Chevy Vega, the $1,828 Opel Kadett, the $2,040 Subaru 1300, and the $1,999 AMC Gremlin were all in about the same price range. Which would you have bought, had you been a car shopper on a very tight budget back then?

It's plenty rough, with sun-bleached paint and lots of dents, and it never seems to move from this spot. Did the dreaded $1,000 timing belt let go? Is it unable to pass the smog test? The tags expire on Halloween, so action will need to be taken soon.


This was the most affordable Porsche you could get in 1985, its $21,440 price tag less than half the size of the 928's and ten grand lower than the cheapest 911. That still wasn't cheap; you could have bought a top-of-the-line '85 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE for $15,095, giving you 135 horsepower in a 2,345-pound car (versus the Porsche's 143 horses and 2,675 pounds). The Mazda had a slight power-to-weight edge, the Porsche had more torque and (arguably) better handling… but an RX-7 plus six grand in hop-up goodies would likely have eaten the 944 alive. Which would you take?

First of all, when we're talking about an Imperial, we need to reiterate this important Imperial fact, lest we enrage the purists: this is not a Chrysler Imperial; Imperial was its own marque during the 1955-75 period, so referring to such a car as a "Chrysler Imperial" is like calling an Eldorado a "General Motors Cadillac."


No wonder these things were outlawed at most demolition derbies! Everything seems to be cast out of great slabs of solid iron, and only that torque-beast 413 under the hood keeps it reasonably quick on the street. As for fuel economy… well, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. Speaking of affordability, this car sold new for a princely $5,581. What upscale imports could you have bought for that amount back then? How about a brand new '64 Jaguar XKE coupe for $5,525? Or a Mercedes-Benz 220SE for $5,187? When you're done thinking about those weighty questions, take our Favorite DOTS Imperial poll!

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Finally, when heading over to San Francisco one day, I found the Manta in the parking lot of the Alameda ferry terminal. Normally I don't like parking-lot shots for DOTS, but I'd had enough frustration trying to catch this Manta.


But then Akier took the initiative, tracking down the car's owner and convincing him to bring the car out to the former Alameda Naval Air Station for a photo session. I'm going to put my photos and the much more picturesque Akier shots in separate galleries. Hooray for our first DOTS Opel!



Here's what Akier has to say about this car: I first spotted this Manta near Mosswood Park in Oakland. I was driving by and did a cartoon double-take. Is that really an Opel ... ? After capturing the Opel Blitz firetruck a few weeks back, I suppose the ghost of Adam Opel must guide my hand.

Evan rescued this from his friend's mom, who had bought it new and put only around 70,000 miles on it. It looked a little rough, and Evan's put some work into it to get it back up to a reasonable state of repair. A nice respray, yellow-coated inner headlights, a Weber instead of the fussy SU carb, and a lot of elbow grease and the old girl looks pretty nice. No tin worm, and despite admittedly needing a tune-up, the 1.9 growled nicely as we took a spin 'round Alameda Point.

Designed to fight the Ford Capri and Vega Cosworth, the Manta shares much (i.e., all) of its running gear with its stablemates, the GT and 1900. There is the umbiquitous all-iron 4, with the semi-OHC setup - cams horizontal to the valves up in the heads, rather than on top of the valves - to make the engine surprisingly compact. Front discs and a well-designed live rear axle located by Panhard rods mean this light (<2200lbs) car handled pretty well back in the day. In Euro trim, the Manta made 90bhp, but the US versions made 75. With the Weber upgrade and a tune, Evan's is probably splitting the difference.

Fittingly, this Manta lives in Alameda full-time, with a Corvair and a Valiant.

I found this customized Ranchero parked in front of Mel's Bowl, just after sunset on a Friday. That's right- the owner is rolling on shomer Shabbas! Then there's the additional blasphemy of a Maverick emblem on the tailgate; normally we aren't purists about such things, but Maverick? Still, this Ranchero is in good shape and the custom touches are fairly subdued for the most part.


A 289 4-speed Ranchero! Of course, it might actually have the 5.0/T5 combo torn out of a Fox Mustang- a very common swap in these things- but that's OK with us. Since you couldn't get a 289 in the '64 (the 260 was the Ranchero's optional V8 that year), originality isn't really an issue here. In fact, this could be a 1965 model with a '64 grille; providing an additional clue, the hood ornament is a '65 item. In that case, a 289 could be original equipment. Ranchero experts, what do you say? Before you answer, take the poll!

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

This car parks in front of the same house that was once home to the '85 Peugeot 505, and it's visible in the background of the shots of that car. However, that 505 sedan is now gone… replaced by a 505 wagon. Don't worry, Peugeot fans, we'll check out that car later on.


Only 2,223 Peugeots were sold in the United States in 1991, prompting Peugeot Motors Of America to say "See ya!" and close up shop. This car sold new for $17,770, which wasn't too bad for a European sedan at that time; the BMW 318i came with a price tag nearly $2,500 higher. However, when you could get a Honda Accord sedan for $12,825 that year, Americans weren't going to roll the dice on a brand that never was able to shake a rep for abysmal reliability built up during the Malaise Era.

This one's rough, but it's more "fixer-upper" rough than "downward spiral" rough, if I'm guessing correctly. It doesn't seem to drive much, but it has the look of a car with some spare parts waiting for it in the garage… and someday they'll be installed!


1975 is the newest a California non-diesel vehicle can be and still be exempted from the dreaded emissions test. That means that you can do something to upgrade the horsepower on this car from the factory 98 to a number with three digits, all the while staying legal. With all those junkyard 3-series engines available for next to nothing, the owner of this car has plenty of affordable and fun options to choose from. How about Megasquirt with dual throttle bodies?
Once you're done checking out the gallery, be sure to vote in the 1975 DOTS poll- remember, they're all smog-exempt here in the Golden State!

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

These guys had some great Lucha Libre costumes, and they'd probably have made a run at People's Choice if it hadn't been for the impossible-to-beat costumes of the Eyesore Pimps. Their Golf was pretty quick on the track, as you can see in the video below:




Now it's got license plates and lights and the rest off the street-legal stuff, and it sees regular transportation duty. I'm sure it's a real hit with the locals (actually, they probably tolerate it, given that the list of team member names painted on the car includes a couple of prominent Alameda family surnames).


Slap a few gumball-machine decals on that body damage- it's better than Bondo! The Golf for '89 had 85 horsepower, which, given that this car had a curb weight of just 2,137 pounds, isn't as bad as it sounds. The cage probably adds more weight than the not-so-ruthless interior gutting removed, but it also adds chassis stiffness and crash protection that makes airbags look pointless. Perhaps 6-point cages and 5-point seat harnesses will become standard factory equipment!

It's not a Sky Bird Esprit, just a plain ol' Firebird. In '78, the price tag on one of these with a Buick V6 was $4,545, which $1,254 less than the Trans Am's price. That's quite a bit of money for a few acres of decals and- we're not kidding here- just 75 additional horsepower over the V6.


I've always liked these Pontiac rally wheels, because they look very similar to the wheels on the old Hot Wheels cars I had as a kid. You can still find them pretty readily at self-service junkyards these days, and the bolt pattern fits plenty of non-Pontiacs.


In California, a vehicle must be 1975 or older to be emissions-test-exempt, so most of these Malaise machines remain un-hot-rodded. Perhaps that means this Pontiac will continue to be its original owner's everyday transportation for additional decades.

Polls are fun! After you look at the gallery, vote on your favorite Alameda DOTS Pontiac.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Sometimes you need to do a little Field Expedient Engineering to keep your doors shut, once you've turned over the odometer a few times. This truck has plenty of harmless surface rust, with every indication being that it's still about as solid as it was when LBJ was president (though the interior was a lot nicer back then).


Why did this truck's original buyer decide to go with The General's two-door rather than International Harvester's four-door, in spite of the Chevy costing nearly 20% more? Well, the Chevy could be had with the good ol' reliable 230 or 292 six, and the two-door just looks sportier. Still, with the passage of a decade or four, the IHC looks pretty good as well. Which would you have bought?

I found this car parked between the '69 Olds Cutlass convertible and the '56 Morris (all three cars are owned by the same person), and right across the street from the '54 Ford and '47 Plymouth. Yes, it's that kind of block.


Two doors, vinyl top, original black plates- great to see this car still going strong. While it most likely has a Slant Six, it was possible to buy this car new with a 383 or 440 big-block and experience the joys of zero header clearance.

As for this car's model year, I've chosen 1960 pretty much totally arbitrarily; the TR3A was made from 1957 through 1962. This might not even be a TR3A, since Triumph put the TR4 engine/transmission in the TR3A and called it the TR4B in 1962. If you're a Triumph expert and you're reading this, take a break from grappling with The Prince Of Darkness and let us know how we might identify the year of this car from the photographs below.


If this car is a TR3A with the original engine, then we're looking at a 2,016-pound car with 100 horsepower; the TR3B had a slightly larger engine with an extra five horsepower (and many fewer expensive crunching noises from the newfangled synchro-equipped transmission). List price for the roadster was $2,675 in 1960, or $32 more than a 1960 Edsel two-door. Which would you choose?

This car has had a mild donk treatment, but it's just the wheels- no suspension destruction, bubbly purple window tint, or rhinestone emblems indicating wheel diameter. If you like the way it looks with these wheels, great… and if you don't, it could be switched back to factory wheels and hubcaps in a matter of minutes.


For '66, the four-door sedan Continental listed at $5,750, which was 169 bucks more than the Cadillac DeVille four-door hardtop and just $17 more than the Imperial four-door. The Lincoln came with a 340-horse 462 engine, the Cadillac had a 340-horse 429, and the Imperial won the luxo-barge horsepower war that year with 350 horsepower out of its 440-inch plant. Which one was the best-looking of the three? I just can't decide!

This car is registered as a 1983 model, according to the California Smog Check Database, but the trunklid badge identifies it as a 633CS… which wasn't built that year. In fact, as far as I can tell there was never any such model as the 633SC. Junkyard trunk lid and/or emblem swap? E24 experts, what do you think?


Whatever it is, this car has a five-speed, looks pretty good, and drives every day.